BEATLEMANIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bless Zee Studio! They played a Beatles movie one fine night and my parents happened to watch it.
Bless my mother!!! She found the Disk resting on one of the racks of Landmark. The evening was the fateful one, 19th of October.

I knew I wouldn't like anything as ancient as that! ABBA, Billy Joel and Harry Belafonte were some of the exceptions. I am the kind of person who likes modern stuff like Linkin Park and Linkin Park and....are there any other bands? But I shut my gob and my cousin and I lay on the bed listening to the first few songs to which my mother sang along and indulged in. I knew I couldn't do by finding the songs bad, so I tried to like them. The next morning, my cousin softly but honestly told me that she didn't find the songs good or anything of that sort. I said,"Yeah, I think they're good, I like all old kinda stuff, but I can't go crazy about them".

A few days later, after returning from the Ajanta Ellora trip, I woke up early on the second morning of Diwali and sat with my discman and the Beatles CD to figure out what was so appealing about them. And well, yeah! They sounded good, man! Real good! Interesting...Then again, I heard them in the car on a journey with my mother's American friend and we all sang along; I was particularly surprised to find myself singing the words right! Then my father asked what made girls swoon over the Beatles. So my mother and her friend began discussing whom more girls swooned over. The competition was between George and John.

On getting back home, I sat with the photo booklet accompanying the CD.I realised that all of the Beatles looked like schoolboys. Agreed that John did look handsome, but with his glasses and moustache and short hair, sorry to say, he looked terrible. George looked like one of the ordinary people. Ringo Starr had a nose to put me off. Someone else caught my eye. The one who looked the same throughout all the years-Paul McCartney. He is called babay faced, but I believe he's the sweetest!

And then began my resaerch on him. No prejudice, John Lennon and Paul McCartney and George Harrison and Ringo Starr are great musicians, but Paul is the ultimate, perhaps because he is also still alive. Coming back to The Beatles,

Now, those three voices and the drums, guitars and violins had invaded my life in evey sphere. Earlier, a girl who disapproved of music addiction could now be seen listening to the top 27 singles of The Beatles religiously, every single night. The sajjan student now thought of hiding her discman in her bag and listening to The Beatles every free period. But then, there's a limit.

My Beatles CD is my prized possession.

A few random thoughts

Firstly, apologies for:
Not keeping the blog neat, i.e, maintaining it
Not updating it regularly
Ending the pompous Manali experience so abruptly
Not commenting on your blog,Monica.

Secondly, PLEASE suggest some topics to write on!

Ugh, disgusting! But sorry, I have to go to a friend's birthday party! DUH! What a complete DORK, you'll say!

Culture Curry

Hello,friends,a good day to all of you.I hope you find this a relevant topic for me to talk(or rather,write) on.
The other day,I was chatting with my friend,Janhavi.Somewhere at the beginning,I asked her what was with the Daniel Radcliffe avtaar she was using.When she asked me whether I liked him,my obvious reply was that I did,until the Equus issue.It was then,that we launched off into one of our first discussions.A discussion about cultures.Here,I shall compare two opposite cultures which are beginning to fuse together and are creating great hullabaloo about morale
and values-the Western culture,and the Indian culture.
What are the first few words that come to your mind when you think about the Western culture?If they're 'Cool' or 'hot' or 'Rockin' and others of the same sort,then you're following your instincts and going with half of the Indian crowd.And if the words are 'Dirty','Shameless' or 'violent' and similar ones,then you're with the rest of the Indians.But if they're something like 'Different','Independent',etc;you're one of the very few,rarely found people who have a broad perspective.No offence meant to the first and the second half,of course!
Well,not beating much around the bush and coming straight to the point;There are many of us who are attracted to the West.Some are shy of admitting it;some are open and don't deny this fact.Some are even literally obsessed with it.Then come those who are not so fond of the western principles.While some are free about this issue,some prefer not to talk about it.Some may detest it's presence.No intention of hurting sentiments.Examples of these two extremes are today's children and the Shiva Sena,respectively.No intention of hurting sentiments,again.
Firstly,for those who are in the first half:-
Don't you have a rich culture of your own,too?
Couldn't you do something to make your culture hip and happening?
By following the Western culture and aping the west,wouldn't you make yourself look like a fool to those who belong to that culture originally?
Why are we running behind something we already have,leaving aside what more and better we have in our culture?
Try to answer these,being honest to yourself;and I'm sure,you may discover a part of yourself you never knew.
Then comes the second half:-
Why are we labelling other cultures?Who gave us the right to do so?
If you are not so fond of foreign values,do you wonder why so many others like them?
Don't you think you should try to look out of the four walls of your belief and try to think positive?
Why should we crib about other cultures when we have the choice of ignoring them and be better off with our own?
If you can answer these,you can find a way out of your dislike for the west and widen your point of view.
I think it's high time we stopped our extreme love or extreme hatred for the White West and maintain and preserve our very own,dear culture with pride.
Well,folks,that's all for now.With due respect and regards,
Mallika.

If any of you have to reply to this article,please do so in your comments or send me the links for long articles.